Kyle Lovern

Sports Editor

Tug Valley received the No. 1 seed in the Class A, Region IV, Section 2 tournament.

The Panthers will play the winner of the Man-Montcalm game, which was played on Saturday night. Tug Valley will host that semi-final game on Tuesday night at the TVHS gym at Naugatuck. Game time is 7:00 p.m.

The Panthers were ranked No.1 in the final Associated Press poll. They head into the tournament as the defending Class Double A champs, however they will be playing in the Class A tourney this year.

Tug Valley had to drop to Class A this season once the new WVSSAC alignment figures were released. This means the Panthers will have new teams in their sectional and regional tournament play for the upcoming basketball tournaments.

Tug Valley was placed in Section 1, Region III in Class A. They have Greater Beckley Christian, Man, Montcalm, Sherman and Van in their section.

The other teams in Section 2 of Tug Valley’s region are Fayetteville, Greenbrier West, Meadow Bridge, Midland Trail, Richwood and Valley of Fayette.

Tug Valley has tried to schedule some of the teams in their region, but in order to play a tough schedule, they did not add some of those Class A squads. Instead the Panthers played teams like Logan, Huntington and Ashland, Ky.

Coach Garland “Rabbit” Thompson and his staff hope to win back to back titles for Tug Valley. Magnolia, one of the top Class AA teams last year, also dropped down to the smaller class this season. They return several of their starters.

It is common knowledge that many of the private schools such as Charleston Catholic, Wheeling Central Catholic, Parkersburg Catholic, Greater Beckley Christian, Weirton Madonna, St. Joe of Huntington and others play in Class A and they usually have some skilled basketball teams.

Class A, REGION 3

SECTION 1

Saturday:

No. 6 Van at No. 3 Sherman, 7 p.m.;

No. 5 Montcalm at No. 4 Man, 7 p.m.

Tuesday:

Sherman-Van winner at No. 2 Greater Beckley Christian, 7 p.m.;

Man-Montcalm winner at No. 1 Tug Valley, 7 p.m.

Friday:

Championship at higher seed , 7 p.m.

SECTION 2

Monday:

No. 5 Meadow Bridge at No. 4 Richwood;

No. 6 Fayetteville at No. 3 Midland Trail

Wednesday:

Richwood-Meadow Bridge winner at No. 1 Valley Fayette;

Midland Trail-Fayetteville winner at No. 2 Greenbrier West

Friday:

Championship at higher seed